I’ve been excited by the idea of shooting some more film, I love the look of black & white, so purchased a little selection, so I can try out some different stocks. The first one through the camera was a roll of Kentmere 400. Available for the low low price of £4.50 a roll (36 exp) I was intrigued to see what the results would be like (would it actually be any good?). I used to shoot a little bit of Kodak Tri-X, but it’s currently double the price of Kentmere, so I’m interested to see how it compares.
I’m only just easing my way back into shooting some film, so I am definitely not as knowledgable as others, when it comes to the intricate differences between film stocks. This could be a plus, hopefully I won’t notice the flaws in this film, especially as I haven’t developed my eye from years of shooting the premium stuff.
I was pretty happy with the look of this film, nice and grainy, but without being over the top, and not too punchy and contrasty either.
A lot of the look comes down to how the film is exposed. I always err on the side of overexposing with film – I’m not using anything fancier than the in built light meter – and the exposure latitude of the film seems pretty flexible.
I saw these shoes on a telephone wire, and wondered if it would come out at all if I shot wide open, pointing right up at the sky. With a max shutter speed of 1/500s on my Olympus, this must be at least 2/3 stops over, and it has still come out OK.
I’m so used to digital, I found it a little frustrating being stuck with the same ISO for a whole roll. This film could probably be pushed with no problem – but I thought to myself, let’s not run before I can walk – shoot a few rolls at box speed, and learn how it exposes, before trying anything fancier.
I did learn that f/1.4 on my Zuiko 50mm isn’t really an option, everything ends up as a blurry smush. The slowest shutter speed I can get away with is 1/60s, anything slower than that starts getting fuzzy, no matter how still I think I’m holding the camera.
Quick comparison below of this film, compared to the default b&w mode on my Fuji X100S. Lots more grain (obvs) and far deeper blacks. This isn’t meant to be another film vs digital, more just a fun comparison of how they look without any real editing.
lloyddavid.com 